Salleh Said Keruak There are those who are not happy that 1MDB had borrowed billions to finance its investments. They want 1MDB’s debts to be paid and its exposure reduced. And that is exactly what 1MDB is trying to do. These same people are not happy that Malaysia’s power company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), was talking about buying some of 1MDB’s assets. They do not want any local company such as TNB to buy over any of 1MDB’s assets. If 1MDB sells its assets to local companies they will call it a bailout. However, they still want 1MDB to reduce its debts. Now 1MDB is in the final stages of selling Edra Global Energy to foreign investors and there is still a lot of criticism. They are saying that the price is too low (even though it is being sold at a higher price than if sold to TNB) or that this is an act of treason for selling to foreign investors, and so on. It makes it very difficult when people do not know what they want. They want 1MDB to reduce its debts but they do not want any local company to buy any of 1MDB’s assets and at the same time they do not want 1MDB to sell these assets to foreigners. So what then do they want 1MDB to do? There are only three things 1MDB can do and all three things are not acceptable to the critics. There is, of course, a fourth alternative, bankruptcy. Is this what they want 1MBD to do, get declared bankrupt, so that they can make this an issue against the Prime Minister?

Friday, November 27, 2015

There were some Umno divisions that wanted the party to censure Muhyiddin Yassin and Shafie Apdal for their actions that could tantamount to disrupting party unity. No doubt there are some who say Umno practices freedom of speech and therefore leaders and members must be allowed to speak their mind. However, there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom to destroy and some divisions felt that this line had been crossed.

It must be noted that amongst the most liberal countries in Europe that practice freedom of speech they also set limits to this freedom. You are not allowed to deny the holocaust or to display Nazi symbols in France or Germany as this would be considered as stepping over the boundary of your freedom. And in Britain if you break party ranks you would be expected to resign, which they would normally do in the spirit of standing by what you say.

Anyway, the party did not take action against Muhyiddin and Shafie although there were demands from some of the divisions to do so. The Umno Supreme Council, however, decided to allow the heads of the various wings to open their meetings, as what they had asked for.

There are some critics who say that this is a break from party tradition. That may be so but there are many party traditions that are being broken over this last one year. One party tradition that is being broken is accusing the party president of stealing RM42 billion when this is not so. Trying to bring down the party president through fabricated allegations affects the entire party and risks Umno getting defeated in the general election and this is certainly not in line with party tradition.

If we wish to talk about maintaining party tradition and not breaking away from party tradition then we have to look at it in total and not take it piecemeal based on what suits us. The tradition of the deputy president declaring the opening of the meeting of the wings is just that, a tradition. It is merely a privilege given to the deputy. It is not a right. And while rights cannot be taken away from someone, privileges need to be earned. And privileges can be lost if they are abused. That is how it works.

Salleh Said Keruak Today, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad posted an article in his blog complaining about all sorts of things. Basically he is not happy that things are not being done his way and his hope of embarrassing Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak at the coming Umno general assembly may not materialise. Dr Mahathir talked about the 43 votes he won during the 1987 Umno party election. Until today there is still talk that he had actually lost that party election but cheated to win. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, in fact, alleged that he was robbed of the Umno Presidency. Earlier, Dr Mahathir raised the matter of the Altantuya murder and alleged that there are still many unanswered questions. Najib, however, has come forward to swear that he is innocent and is not involved in that murder. There are also many unanswered questions about Umno’s 1987 party election. Dr Mahathir, however, never came forward to swear that he did not cheat in that party election as is being alleged. Dr Mahathir keeps repeating the story that he was the legitimate President of Umno. The allegations that he was not the legitimate President, however, continues until today. And Dr Mahathir never did what Najib has done by swearing in a mosque that all those allegations are not true.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

It is probably an overused cliche to say that violence begets violence but what other way to describe what is going on in the world today? Even before the world can get over the Friday the 13th terrorist incident in Paris we are hit by yet another terrorist incident yesterday, also a Friday, this time in Mali.

No doubt much negative publicity is going to be given to those seen as the perpetrators of violence and terrorism. What is seldom spoken about is that these terrorists are actually a a product of terrorism. No one is born extreme. You are moulded to be extreme. That is the sad reality of how terrorism is born. When we subject society to violence and extremism then we turn these same people into extremists and terrorists.

As an example, the Taliban were not born as Taliban fighters. They grew up in a violent society in Afghanistan, constantly dodging bullets and bombs and eventually had to seek refuge in neighbouring Pakistan. They were then schooled into the Pakistan madrasah and taught that their duty was to go back to their motherland and drive the Russians out.

When they were old enough to hold a rifle they did go back to Afghanistan to fight the Russians and eventually managed to free their country from Russian occupation. But they were groomed and indoctrinated from young to fight, and when there were no longer any Russians to fight they fought among themselves and against the American-backed government. And now they fight against the whole world.

Young boys kidnapped to become soldiers in Africa grow up to become pitiless killers who have no respect for life. Those such as the ISIS or Al Qaeda fighters lived under a state of war since childhood and now only know war. Unfortunately, some Malaysians and Indonesians perceive these wars as holy wars so they join what they think is 'God's army' and this has made the world a dangerous place.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

The massacre in Paris Friday night that saw 128 dead so far and 180 wounded is the second terrorist incident this year after the Charlie Hebdo shooting and has brought back memories of the Madrid bombings in 2004 that resulted in 191 dead and 1,800 wounded.

Unfortunately, in all these tragedies it was the work of Muslims. And this is another tragedy because Islam is as much the victim as those killed and wounded. Since the incident of September 2001, Islam is perceived as a violent religion and those giving Islam this negative image are Muslims themselves.

What the west may not realise is that there are more than a billion Muslims but just a small minority commit these terrorist acts while the majority of Muslims are peace loving and reject violence.

However, as long as the large silent majority remain silent and do not condemn such terrorist acts then it would be perceived that the silence means tacit support.

Muslims must, therefore, condemn these acts and send a strong message that violence, whether against fellow Muslims or against non-Muslims, cannot be tolerated and that Muslims reject all forms of violence whether by terrorists or state organised. Violence begets violence and history has proven that violence has never been the way to solve conflicts.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Salleh Said Keruak Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he does not want to change the system. He just wants to change the Prime Minister. He will then let Malaysians decide on what system they want after Malaysia gets a new Prime Minister. The question now would be: why did Dr Mahathir not change the system when he was Prime Minister for 22 years? Since Dr Mahathir wants to allow Malaysians to decide their own future, what if Malaysians decide they still want Najib Tun Razak as the Prime Minister? Is Dr Mahathir prepared to agree to this? While he is prepared to allow Malaysians to decide what system they want, Dr Mahathir wants to dictate who should be Prime Minister and will not allow Malaysians to make that decision. As far back as 2008 Dr Mahathir had already announced that he wants a Presidential Council to be set up and for the country to be run by a Council of Elders. More than seven years later and he is still pushing for that to be implemented although there is no such system in the Constitution or in a Westminster system of government. Dr Mahathir also said that a lavish lifestyle is evidence enough that someone is corrupt and that the court can take action against that person. You do not need any other evidence other than that. If that is how our legal system is supposed to work then no one is safe any longer. You can be arrested and put in jail just because someone says you are corrupt based on the car you drive or the house you live in. In the end the person is assumed guilty until and unless he or she can prove innocence. If this is how the new legal system is supposed to work then even Dr Mahathir himself would not be safe based on the lavish lifestyle of his own family who would need to prove they are not corrupt or else would have to go to jail.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Salleh Said Keruak In his latest Blog posting today, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad commented that if 1MDB had not been created then it would not have needed to borrow RM42 billion. If a multi-billion business can be done without the need to borrow money then we would not need banks. All the banks can be closed down. Even the PLUS North-South Highway not only needed to borrow money but it also needed a government grant. And it charges users toll to drive on the highway to pay back what it borrowed. And did not Perwaja, a company that failed, also need to borrow large sums of money? Dr Mahathir alleges that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should be charged for sabotaging Malaysia’s banking and financial system. In what way did the Prime Minister sabotage Malaysia’s banking and financial system? Can Dr Mahathir explain? Unfortunately Dr Mahathir’s allegation does not state these details. It must be remembered that 1MDB had tabled a full report during a Cabinet meeting in June this year. After explaining its rationalisation and debt reduction plan, which included the proposed IPO to bring in cash, the plan was approved. Then, the following month, the Special Task Force confiscated 1MDB’s accounts and documents, which delayed the exercise that would have turned 1MDB around. About the matter of 1MDB getting land cheap and making a profit on that land, naturally undeveloped land would be cheaper than land that has already obtained planning approval and where the infrastructure has been completed. For example, even Petronas got land cheap in Paka, Terengganu, but after developing that land it is now worth thousands of times more what the land originally cost.